ERR in Moscow: Most Russians Believe Sanctions Will Bypass Them

Most Russians believe sanctions by the West on Russia will have little effect on them, says ERR Moscow correspondent Anton Aleksejev.

He told ETV on Wednesday that according to President Vladimir Putin, the sanctions could have a positive effect on the nation's economy as it will motivate Russia to develop its industry.

Aleksejev said studies show 60 percent of Russians believe the sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine will bypass them, and only affect Putin's close circle.

Putin is still very popular in the country, Aleksejev said, adding that his popularity rate is over 80 percent and has shown no signs of decreasing since peaking after the annexation of Crimea in March.

At his meeting with Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Kiev Tuesday, Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas said that rumours of Russia's more constructive approach towards Ukraine are severely exaggerated, as Russia has unfortunately taken no real direct steps towards a restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has expanded a list of sanctions against Russian companies and individuals, including two Estonian journalists, who work in the local Russian-language media, Marianna Tarassenko and Andrei Babin.

In a joint telephone briefing in which ERR News participated in, the top US and EU diplomats in Ukraine emphasized that the Western aim is to help Ukraine overcome the systemic weaknesses from its past and give a boost to reforms.

A year has passed since the Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down, killing 283 passengers and 15 crew on board. Despite all the evidence pointing the blame on Russian government-backed rebels in Donbass area, eastern Ukraine, Russia has so far denied any involvement. But a new video, filmed by the rebels themselves, is a latest in clear indications of who is responsible.

Estonian-founded 'Let's Do It!' cleanup campaign involved 16 nations this spring, in which over 2.2 million people participated to make their countries environmentally more pleasant. And despite the war in Ukraine, the civic activists managed to gather at least half a million volunteers in the country.

A decree signed this week by Russian President Vladimir Putin making deaths of Russian forces “in peacetime” a state secret is yet another attack on freedom of expression in the country and indicates that President Putin has something to hide in Ukraine, Amnesty International has said.

Estonian Foreign Minister Keit Pentus-Rosimannus affirmed to her Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin in a meeting in Brussels that Estonia supports setting up visa-free travel between Ukraine and the European Union.

The reasons behind Russians volunteering to fight with the separatists in eastern Ukraine are money and poor financial planning, and feeling unsettled in civilian life after participation in the Chechen wars, says Gruz-200, an organization gathering information on those fighting in Ukraine.

The United States State Department announced on Wednesday that combined Russian-separatist forces continue to violate the terms of the “Minsk II” agreement and the Russian military has deployed additional air defense systems into eastern Ukraine.

On Friday and Saturday, the European College of the University of Tartu hosted the seminar “Critical Perspectives and Critical Dimensions on the Ongoing Ukrainian Crisis: Which Systemic Challenges to the EU-Russia Dialogue?”

Foreign Minister Keit Pentus-Rosimannus signs the decision to support refugees from Eastern Ukraine through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) with an aid worth 200,000 euros.

Finnish political analysts' reading of the Minsk-2 agreement is that Russia has admitted its role in the war in Ukraine - something that has been considered self-evident in the West but which the Putin regime has steadfastly denied.

A so-called frozen conflict might not be the worst scenario for Ukraine, says Kadri Liik, a senior policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations. She added that in Minsk a path to integrate separatist areas into Ukraine was chosen, but this will happen on conditions dictated by Russia.

Martin Hurt, a security expert who is the deputy director of the International Center for Defense and Security in Tallinn, told ERR News that the agreements reached in Belarus on Thursday leave Russia with all roads open - an exit for reconsolidation, or avenues for further meddling.

The number of Russian soldiers who have died in Ukraine remains a state secret, but the Union of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia has taken on the task of finding out, ERR's Neeme Raud said.

University of Tartu professor Andres Kasekamp said the current escalation in eastern Ukraine will not last forever and the conflict between government forces and separatists will turn into a frozen one.

Just as Estonia had to choose in 2003 whether to join the US in attacking Iraq, while many EU nations refused, Estonia again must pick sides on the question of military aid to Ukraine, says Diplomaatia magazine chief Erkki Bahovski.